The invention relates to an electrical connector, and, more particularly, to a discrete electrical connector having contacts removably held in a mating configuration within sleeves formed in an insulator.
Certain prior art electrical connectors have been assembled by very tightly press fitting or molding contacts into receiving blocks of insulative material which form structural members to support the contacts and hold them rigidly within the insulative body. The prior art connector having contacts rigidly fixed within the insulator, are then mounted by bolting the insulator to a pair of spaced parallel rails, or by dropping the contact tails into holes in a mounting substrate and soldering them in place. Problems have arisen in substrate mounted connectors of this type in that generally the insulator forms the structural member which supports the contacts and the insulator cannot be removed after the connector is mounted to the substrate. Further, it is virtually impossible to remove individual ones of such prior art contacts from within the insulator and/or the mounting substrate in the event one of the contacts is damaged.
The prior art techniques for assembly of the aforesaid connectors are also relatively slow because of the time required to rigidly mount each individual contact into its receiving sleeve within the insulator. Certain prior art connectors have overcome this problem by providing for simultaneous insertion of rows of contacts held together on strips into receiving sleeves which hold them in position within the insulator. Simultaneous contact insertion greatly speeds the connector assembly process and the generally light insulator/contact holding force typical of such assemblies enables insertion of the contacts into the insulator by hand eliminating the need for mechanical pressing apparatus. Such contact-insulator assemblies are oftentimes typical of the connectors which are press fitted into contact receiving apertures in a mounting substrate. Such a connector is set forth and described in co-pending patent application Ser. No. 770,578 entitled "Electrical Connector and Method of Fabrication and Assembly" and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Likewise issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,868 issued Sept. 6, 1977 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention and entitled "Method of Fabrication and Assembly of Electrical Connector", sets forth and describes one method of providing a press fit electrical connector in the manner set forth above.
A trend in the development of the substrate mounted connector art is that of using structures which permit the removal of the insulator from mounted contacts. Certain prior art discrete connectors have included insulators adapted for tightly holding top loaded contacts in sleeves formed therein and, in certain instances, have been used as the seating tool for press fitting the contacts in this configuration. Such an approach is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,530,422, to David S. Goodman, entitled "Connector and Method for Attaching Same to Printed Circuit Board". The connector described in the Goodman Patent, includes contacts having transverse shoulder portions which are top loaded down into slots in the insulator. The contact tails are pulled through to seat the contacts, and the lower shoulder portion of each contact is twisted 90 degrees to lock each contact into the insulator bottom and the relatively large outwardly extending shoulder of the contact. The contacts can then be press fitted into apertures in a substrate by applying a force to the top of the insulators. Once the contacts have been press fitted, it is impossible to remove the insulator to expose individual ones of the contacts for repair. Similarly, each of the contacts are locked into the insulator to permit its individual removal therefrom.
In many prior art discrete connector assembly operations, the contacts are top loaded into the insulator with requisite force for preliminarily securing the contact therein and then a pulling force is applied to the bottom tail of the contacts relative to the insulator to seat the contact securely therein. Such "pull-home" forces are generally substantially equivalent to the "push-out" force of the contact in the insulator and require additional tooling to effect the pull-home operation. Most pull-home fixtures are adapted for engaging and pulling contacts one at a time rather than in a series. Such an operation is both time consuming and imparts higher cost to the assembly. It may also be observed that when the connector of certain of these discrete assemblies is mounted upon a printed circuit board, the contact may be designed to be removed for purposes of repair. In such connectors, the push-out force thereof is generally equivalent to the push-in force due to the type of mating configuration. However, the push-in force is optimally as low as possible to eliminate deformation of any of the components during assembly, and, therefore, the push out force is also relatively low.
The connector and method of manufacture of the present invention is especially adapted for the improved assembly and housing of contacts into an insulator to comprise a discrete connector. The present connector and method overcome many of the disadvantages of the prior art by providing an insulative housing, which permits simultaneous loading of removable contacts from the top with relatively small push-in forces sufficient to seat the contacts therein, and yet lock the contacts from the top with relatively small push-in forces sufficient to seat the contacts therein, and yet lock the contacts into the seated configuration to establish high push-out forces. In addition, the contacts may be removed from the insulator with a minimum push-out force or damage to the insulator by the insertion of the appropriate removal tool into the top of the insulator. Since the contacts are held within the insulator through detent means formed therein, the connector of the present invention permits a wider latitude of rigidity and structural integrity to the contact insulator assembly than previous discrete connectors of related design, and yet removal of the contacts from the insulator is facilitated with much less push-out force than conventionally possible.